


cat in the stacks

by yeswayappianway



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not Hockey Player(s), Fluff, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 07:10:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14665953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeswayappianway/pseuds/yeswayappianway
Summary: Danny’s been at the library for the last few hours so he could grade, but they’re closing soon. He’s halfway back to his car when he hears a small noise just off to his side. He looks down. A cat is approaching cautiously, its tail curling over its back.Danny bends down. “Hello, who are you?” he says quietly.





	cat in the stacks

**Author's Note:**

> this is for jarka, who wanted something soft with Claude
> 
> title from the Cat in the Stacks Mystery series by Miranda James, because cozy mysteries with librarians and cats are a whole subgenre of books, and i couldn't find one of the ones with a really groan-worthy title

It’s not like Danny had a _bad_ day, exactly, just that grades are due for graduating seniors in three days, and he hasn’t had nearly as much time to grade as he’d like because Caelan has been sick (although the boys are over at Sylvie’s now), and—ok, maybe he did have a bad day. Danny’s been at the public library for the last few hours so he could grade away from distractions, but they’re closing soon. He’s packed up and headed outside, and he’s halfway back to his car when he hears a small noise just off to his side. He looks down. A cat is approaching cautiously, its tail curling over its back.

Danny bends down. “Hello, who are you?” he says quietly. The cat pauses, and then walks deliberately closer. It meows at him. “Do you belong to someone?” There’s no collar, but it looks glossy and well-fed. Apparently, the cat has decided he’s trustworthy because it reaches him finally, and rubs his head against Danny’s knee. He smiles a little. Definitely someone’s pet, he thinks, as it allows him to gently pat its head. Unfortunately, he has no idea who’s pet it is, and they probably want it back.

He looks around again. He’s right in the middle of a block of houses, but no one is outside or seems to be looking for a cat in any way. _Well_ , he thinks, _I can try_. “Please don’t get mad, buddy,” he says, picking up the cat, which wriggles a little but acquiesces. Danny carries it gently back to the door of the library.

When he gets inside, the library seems empty from what he can see, so he makes his way back to the front desk without anyone questioning why he’s got a cat. The guy at the desk looks up when he gets closer, though.

“She got out again?” he asks, seemingly unfazed by the presence of an animal in the library. Danny takes a second to register the ‘again’ because the guy—Claude, his nametag helpfully supplies—has an accent. A French-Canadian accent, no less. He’s pretty sure he’s seen him at the library before, but Danny almost never needs to talk to anyone now that he knows the wifi doesn’t need a password.

“Uh, yes? I guess so? I found her outside on the sidewalk, and I didn’t know who she belonged to. You sound like you know, maybe?” Danny tries to focus on what’s actually happening, and not how nice it is to hear the familiar sounds.

Claude rolls his eyes. “Yeah, it happens at least once a month. I can give her owners a call,” he offers, and Danny nods. He stands there awkwardly, still holding the cat, as Claude looks something up on his computer. The cat meows, loudly in the quiet library, and Danny, without thinking, shushes it. Claude laughs. “It’s ok, she’s not bothering anyone,” he says, scribbling on a scrap of paper. Danny doesn’t know what to say, so he smiles, and scratches the cat lightly to try and make up for shushing her.

There’s a short phone conversation, but before long, Claude has hung up and he sighs. “Well, good news, her family is in town. Bad news, they're at their kid’s orchestra concert, and won’t be back for at least another hour. I would say we could keep her here, but we close in five minutes.” There’s a little divot in between his eyebrows as he frowns, and it’s frustratingly cute. Frustrating because Danny doesn’t want this situation to be any more awkward than it already is.

Danny offers, “I can hold on to her for a while, until they can come pick her up?” It’s not a great idea, he really needs to grade more, and also, he probably needs to eat dinner eventually. But he doesn’t want to just leave the cat somewhere, and she’s been very calm so far, so maybe it will all go fine.

Claude’s still frowning, though. “That’s really nice of you, but they won’t know where to pick her up if she’s not still in town. I don’t want to make you wait, I’ll just keep an eye on her outside.”

Now it’s Danny’s turn to frown. “But you’re closing! You shouldn’t have to wait to go home. I can grade and watch the cat, you shouldn’t have to deal with it.”

Someone clears their throat behind Danny, and he turns, embarrassed. Claude just says, “Hi Stephanie, don’t worry about it. We’re all good to go, it’s just that the Morrises’ cat got out again.” Presumably Stephanie steps closer, looks at the cat in Danny’s arms, and smiles.

“She’s a slippery little one, isn’t she?” The woman pets the cat’s head softly and backs up. “Glad you found her.” She walks around behind the desk, and disappears into the back room. Danny looks around.

“How about I wait outside, and we can decide what to do after you close up? I don’t want to keep you here,” Danny says, and leaves before Claude can argue. It’s nice out, the spring finally having arrived properly, and he spends the next two minutes looking at the flowers by the side of the building. He probably looks like an idiot, but it had been a very long winter. The cat still has made no real effort to get away from him, which is kind of heartwarming, but she’s also getting to feel a bit heavy in his arms.

Claude waves goodbye to Stephanie, shuts the door to the library, and walks over to Danny. “So, any new ideas for what to do with her? I really don’t mind, I’ve got nothing better to do tonight,” he says, and his smile reveals a missing tooth on one side. Danny wonders how it happened.

“Well, we could both stay here. It seems rude to make you take care of this problem alone, and that way, her family will know where to find her,” Danny offers. He knows he needs to grade, but what’s one more hour away?

“Sure, as long as you’re okay with hanging out with me for an hour,” Claude says. “Uh, I’m Claude, nice to meet you,” and he offers a hand for Danny to shake. Danny is still holding the cat, so he has to make Claude wait while he awkwardly rearranges the cat—she hisses briefly—and takes Claude’s hand.

“I’m Danny, nice to meet you, too.”

The hour passes quickly. It’s a little slow at first, but Danny asks about where Claude’s from, and it turns out they’re both Canadian, which means they spend another twenty minutes talking hockey (Claude lost the tooth playing hockey in college), and then Claude wants to know what Danny does (“You’re always in the library, but you never check anything out,” he says, which makes Danny feel a little called out), and he winces sympathetically when Danny mentions grading final exams. It’s the most Danny’s talked to anyone who wasn’t a colleague or one of his students in a very long time, and when Claude gets his phone out to check the time, Danny’s shocked at how late it already is. He’s about to ask if Claude wants to get food, since he figures neither of them has had time to eat dinner, when Claude waves to someone down the block.

The cat’s family arrives and fusses over their pet, whose name, Danny is charmed to learn, is Hercules. They seem nice enough, thanking both Danny and Claude profusely for finding her and getting her back safely to them, and then Danny is left alone with Claude. The silence is abrupt.

“So, uh,” Danny begins, just as Claude says, “I don’t know—” They both trail off. Danny gestures at Claude to go first.

“I don’t know if you’re busy, you probably need to get back to grading, but—do you want to grab dinner? We’re both here, and I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” Claude says. Danny is about to agree when he notices that Claude’s looking a little shifty. Danny decides to do something dumb.

“Sure, I’d love to, I’m definitely hungry enough to eat now. But, ah, would you get a drink with me afterwards? As a date,” he says, trying to summon the same confidence he feels when lecturing. It doesn’t come, but Claude smiles so brightly that it doesn’t matter.

“Absolutely,” Claude says.

**Author's Note:**

> why does claude work at a library and why is danny a professor, you might ask. well, because i'm lazy and work at a library in a college town. write what you know, right? i've never found a cat outside, though, and i haven't been able to figure out if the one guy who comes into the library is french-from-france or french-canadian. either way, he is sadly not danny briere.


End file.
